Scientific Visitors
By Maryann Manning

My friend Shelly Chumley, a second grade teacher at Bryan Elementary School near Birmingham, AL, gave her class an incredible science-writing experience when she invited her husband Phillip and his colleague Eric Kelley to visit her classroom. Phillip and Eric are research scientists in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Shelly Chumley's second graders put on protective goggles and did science experiments during their visit with real research scientists.

Before the writing
Phillip and Eric began by sharing their research logs, displaying notes about protocols and discussing the results of experiments. Eric shared one of his scientific papers, showing the students how the paper began as detailed notes in a research log. Eric also talked about the extensive amount of reading he did before conducting experiments and, finally, writing the paper. Phillip and Eric discussed the necessity for a hypothesis, systematic methods, accurate descriptions and illustrations in scientific writing.

From summary to step-by-step
Phillip and Eric told the students that there were two kinds of writing involved in creating a scientific paper. To explain the first type, they compared the abstract of a paper with the blurb on the back of a book – there are just enough words to tell the reader what the paper will explain in detail. The second type of writing involves writing about the procedures. It's like writing a recipe, so a scientist in another lab could follow the same directions and obtain the same results.

The students asked what happened when another scientist doesn't get the same results. Eric explained that this leads scientists to do more reading, research and writing.

Experiments and observations
After the discussion about scientific papers, Phillip and Eric conducted a few simple experiments and invited students to make predictions about the outcome of each experiment. Students graphed the results of the experiments and wrote about what they observed. At the end of the day, the students wrote exit slips about the experience. As a result of the visit, students viewed reading and writing as something real scientists do and not just something that teachers tell students to do. Shelly immediately noticed a difference in the quality of writing in the students' science research logs. The students had made the connection between what happened in their writing workshops, and the process the scientists went through to write a paper.

Making it happen
Even if you don't have a spouse, friend or relative who's a scientist, you can still recreate this experience in your own classroom. If you live near a research facility, find out if any of the parents in your school are scientists or know scientists. You'll find scientists at hospitals, weather bureaus, agricultural facilities and universities. If a visit from a scientist isn't possible, communicate with a scientist on the Internet. Here are some questions that can help students learn from a scientist.

A real-live research scientist shows second graders the step-by-step process of writing a scientific report.

What kind of experiments do you conduct? What equipment do you use? What kind of training did you have to prepare you to become a scientist? What kind of writing do you do as you conduct your experiments? Has your job changed with technological advancements? What books and journals do you read to help you as a scientist? Do you attend meetings for scientists? Would you send us pictures of your lab?

Hitting the books
There's a lot of excellent nonfiction that can enrich your teaching of science. Heinemann Library has books on almost any aspect of science, with many titles available in English and Spanish.

I especially like these resources available from Great Source: The Reader's Handbook, Content Area Guide Science for 4-8 students and the "Science Daybooks" (physical, life and earth) for students in grades 6-8.

One important thing your students will learn from interacting with guest scientists is that reading and writing are very much a part of the scientific process.

Maryann Manning is on the faculty of the School of Education, the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

February, 2004, Vol.34, No.5